Eglantyne Roses

History of Eglantyne Roses:

Eglantyne roses were first bred in the United Kingdom prior to 1994 by David Austin. You will find very few rose growers anywhere in the world who have no heard of David Austin. David is one of the world’s premier hybridizers of roses and you will find his creations gracing the gardens of most of the world’s major countries. The rose Eglantyne was created by crossing an unnamed seedling with the rose Mary Rose. The result is an elegant pink English shrub rose that is quite classy in any setting.

The rose Eglantyne will produce blooms that average around 3 inches in diameter and will have a medium tea fragrance. The blooms, like most of David’s roses, will have an absolute abundance of petal, well over 100 per bloom. So if drying out rose petals is your thing, this is definitely the rose for you. The plant itself will grow to between 3 and 4 feet tall at full maturity with a width of a little smaller than its height. This great rose will do well in zones 5 through 10, as well as in a container on your porch or patio.

Growing Eglantyne Roses:

Growing the rose Eglantyne is not all that hard and if you have had any prior experience growing roses, then you should not find this one to be all that challenging. The most important decision you will make in the life of your roses is where in the garden you choose to grow them. Roses require a lot of sun light if you want them to perform well and this one is no exception. Try to choose a spot that gets no less than 6 to 8 hours each day of direct sun light.

You also will need to grow your Eglantyne roses in soil that drains very well. This is not a difficult thing to accomplish but I am always surprised and how often growers overlooks this step. Roses tend to perform very poorly if grown in soil that doesn’t drain properly, not to mention they can become very susceptible to diseases. If you are unsure about your garden soil, take a trip to your local garden center and you will likely find a wide range of soil mixes available, several of which will be designed specifically for roses. Choose the one that best suits your application and use that. Your rose Eglantyne will thank you for it!

Planting Eglantyne Roses:

Getting your rose Eglantyne into the ground is fairly simple and most growers can get the job done very well with just a few basic hand tools. How you go about planting roses depends a little bit on how your originally purchased them. If you bought your roses from a local source, then they probably already had them planted in a container and ready to bloom. These are the easiest roses to plant. Dig your hole at least twice the diameter of the container and equally as deep. This will keep your bud union at its original depth while still giving you plenty of room around the roots for your soil mix.

If you bought your Eglantyne roses online then they may have shipped them to you as bareroot plants, which is not uncommon. You should first soak the roots of these overnight in a bucket of room temperature water, prior to planting day. Then dig the hole as wide as the longest roots on the plant, and deep enough to allow you to set the plant on top of a mound of soil while keeping the bud union no more than an inch below the surface once filled.

Once you have your rose Eglantyne set in place on top of the mound, spread the roots out in all directions and then back fill the hole about halfway to start, using your soil mix. Take your garden hose and give the loose soil a heavy watering until it flows around all the roots like mud, then go ahead and finish filling the hole. Give the soil one last heavy watering and be sure to top off any final settling, but do not tamp down the soil. This method of planting should make sure that you don’t get any air pockets around the roots.

Caring for Eglantyne Roses:

Taking care of the rose Eglantyne is pretty straight forward and once again, any past experience you may have growing roses will sure come in handy here as well. You will need to make sure that your roses are getting enough water and nutrients, while being very careful not to overdo it. For most climates this usually amounts to about one deep watering per week. If your climate is hot or dry, then you may need to check on your roses every 4 or 5 days.

You also should consider giving your Eglantyne roses a dose of a granular, all-purpose fertilizer in the early spring when the leaves begin to open. This will get your roses off to a great start. Like most of David Austin’s roses, this one is also a repeat bloomer which means it will benefit nicely from additional feedings over the course of the growing season. I will usually give my roses their second feeding as soon as they have finished the first big bloom, then a third feeding sometime around the middle of the summer for more late season flushes. Your rose Eglantyne will do nicely on this schedule as well.

Pruning Eglantyne Roses:

You should prune the rose Eglantyne in the very early spring when the weather starts to warm but before the leaves begin to open. This makes pruning so much easier on you and the rose bush. Start by removing all the dead and discolored wood from the plant and set your cuttings aside. Next, prune back any overlapping lateral canes so these do not compete for sun light once the leaves fully open. Lastly, give the remaining canes a cut back by about one third of their current height to promote new growth.

This is also the best time to clean up around the base of your Eglantyne roses to get rid of all the dead leaves and debris that may have collected there from the previous growing season. Throw all this dead matter away in the trash along with your cuttings. Never let this material lay around your roses and do not throw it into the compost bin. Finish up your pruning by giving your rose Eglantyne a fresh new layer of mulch to start off the growing season.